Following the terrorist attacks of Sep. 11, 2001, it is clear that despite security measures the United States of America can be attacked asymmetrically by an enemy. One method of attack could entail transporting a weapon of mass destruction or other threat into the United States using land, sea or air vehicles that approach or penetrate our borders.
The number of sea-going vessels, aircraft, and land vehicles, as well as shipping containers and other packaging for goods, entering our and other nations through various ports and across borders exceeds several tens of millions annually. This number is steadily increasing each year. Moreover, with each class of vessel or vehicle or package, distinguishing between them is often very difficult, and reliably identifying a container and its contents can necessitate several re-inspections.
Systems for tracking land vehicles and determining the legitimacy of their registration have been developed. In one system, law enforcement officers can rapidly identify stolen license plates, stolen vehicles or expired registrations. The system includes a scanner for receiving and analyzing data stored in a chip carried in the annual registration decal. The scanner interfaces with an on-board computer that communicates with a central law enforcement database server via a wireless transmission. However, this system can only scan registration decals that are essentially within the immediate visual proximity of the officer wielding the scanner. Further, the system requires the placement of a physical instrumentality, i.e. the chip, within the registration decal.
It would therefore be highly desirable to have a registration and identification system for determining information about place of origin, legitimacy of registration, and security inspections of the vehicle, vessel, or container. Further, it would be desirable to have an integrated system of this kind that allows for interrogation of this information at significant distances from a remote location (e.g., from locations with a commanding view over a large area or of a strategic passage or checkpoint).
Enhanced vessel, vehicle or container identification technologies to maintain security measures at ports or border through stations are urgently needed to protect national security and the orderly flow of world commerce. The present disclosure proposes one solution that entails implementing a vessel, vehicle, and container registration system based on encoded information carried on a substrate that can be remotely interrogated.
Present methods of identifying incoming vessels, vehicles and/or containers include inspection, re-inspection, and tracking the transportation modality to locate and read, for example at a distance with binoculars or up close with the naked eye, the registration and/or content information. On occasion, vessels, vehicles and containers have to be chased down. Very-close range inspection of vessels is needed to ascertain the identify of an entity observed acting oddly. In any major port, hundreds of utility boats, sailboats and pleasure craft go unmonitored. In cargo ships, containers are spot-checked, but millions of containers are virtually unmonitored. Systems that broadcast unit identification and movement are expensive. Nor are private vehicles and utility craft subject to routine port inspection as such activities would require more equipment and personnel than is presently available. Thus the security monitoring is sporadic and incomplete.
A great need has therefore arisen for a system capable of long distance remote identification by scanning encoded registration information carried on a substrate, which may be affixed directly to, or integrated into, the structure of a vessel, vehicle or container. The substrate could comprise a layer of light-responsive material or it could comprise a decal covered with one or more layers of light-responsive material.